(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver – July 4, 2011) The Chiefs Council of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs passed Resolution 2011-21 “UBCIC Rejection of the HST” rejecting the unilaterally-imposed Harmonized Sales Tax, given the complete lack of consultation with First Nations and lack of expert economic or legal study on the impacts of HST on First Nations in B.C.

"The UBCIC struck a HST Committee to review the potential impacts of the HST on First Nations. We met with Minister Hansen and informed him of our desire to explore the HST and sought resources to commission an expert economic and legal analysis of the impacts of HST on First Nations in BC. Afterwards, we filed numerous formal requests, sent a steady stream of correspondence and made repeated phone calls in an effort to seek a formal response. Neither Minister Hansen nor his ministry formally responded to our request," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. "It was newly appointed Finance Minister Falcon who emailed a response this past April summarily dismissed our request and stated there was no need to study the impacts of the HST on First Nations."

Grand Chief Phillip stated “The UBCIC HST Committee presented an update to the UBCIC Chiefs Council and made the recommendation to formally reject the HST. The Chiefs Council agreed by formal resolution to reject the HST and urge all First Nations to ‘Vote Yes’ on the Provincial HST referendum, to extinguish the HST.”